Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     After Christmas I went on a fishing trip and photographed several humpback whales during the day.  I submitted some of the better photos to Happywhale.com for possible individual identification.  Barely a week later I received an email that one of the whales had been identified as Saucer .  Saucer is at least seven years old as it was first photographed in 2017.  Saucer's sex and exact age have not yet been determined. The other day I received another email from Happywhale stating that two more of my whales have been identified.  One whale is named Wizard .  Wizard is a female at least 12 years old.  She was first recorded in 2012 off Maine.  The other whale does not have a name yet but is identified with a catalog number.  This whale's identification is HDRVAMn033 .  The sex of this whale has not been determined yet.  It is at least nine years old.  It was first recorded in 2015 off of Virginia. Wizard, 12...

The Friday after Christmas I got back out on the water with my friend, Captain John.  He had been chasing winter bluefin tuna lately and he had a spot for me on his boat this time.  I saw this as an opportunity to catch some maguro , spot some whales and maybe find some alcids.  It turned out to be a good time as I accomplished that trifecta. There was four of us on board and we left the dock at 6 a.m.  There was a chill in the air.  The wind was pretty much calm though, and once the sun rose high enough the air temperature was comfortable.  The water was calm with minimal two-foot swells, at well-spaced intervals.  On the way out, scoters began taking to the air from their night slumber to avoid our oncoming vessel.  Gannets began their serial search for food.  As the sight of land grew smaller, I started to see my first few target species:   dovekies and razorbills .  The calm water made it easier to spot the little dovekies on t...